Apparatus for cleaning electric lamp bulbs



Dec. 23, 1941. R. B. THOMAS APPARATUS FOR CLEANING ELECTRIC'LAMP BULBSFiled Jan. 22, 1941 2 Shets-Sheet l ATTOBN E Y Patcnted 23, 1941APPARATUS FOR CLEANmG ELECTRIC LAMP ums Ralph B. Thomas, Beverly, Masa,Hygrade Sylvania Corporation,

assignor to Salem, Masa, a.

corporation of Massachusetts Application January 22, 1941, Serial No.375,427

1 Claim.

This invention relates to electric lamps and more particularly toelectric lamp bulbs used in the manufacture of fluorescent lamps.

An object of this invention is to provide'a means for cleaning the bulbsused in the manufacture of fluorescent lamps.

Another object is to providea means for salvaging the powder from bulbswhich have been imperfectly coated with a luminescent material.

Other objects, advantages and features will be apparent from thefollowing specification taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of the bulb cleaning mechanism;

Figure 2 is a-detail, shown partly in section of the air escape bushingand the brush coupling; Figure '8 is a perspective of the bulb carriageassembly;

Figure 4 is a side elevational view of a bulb in the process of beingcleaned. Similar reference characters refer to similar parts in theseveral views of the drawings. In the manufacture of fluorescent lampsit is extremely important that the inner walls of the bulb be perfectlyclear of impurities such. as dust particles. Otherwise, the fluorescentcoating will not be the smooth even coating which is desired.

Thus one of the purposes of myinv'ention is to obtain a perfectly clean,bulb before the luminescent coating is applied.

Many times, in the processing of the lamp, for one reason or another,the coating is spoiled. It is then desirable to salvage the powder fromthe bulb. If this is done without contaminating it, the powdermay beused over again. Thus an- '-cther' purpose of my invention is to providea simple yet adequate means for salvaging the powder from the bulb.

In Figure 1, the tracks I are mounted on the channel 2. This channel maybe mounted on a table or some other suitable support to hold it in astationary position. The carriage bodies 3,-

4, and 5 are mounted on the carriage axles 6 which in turn carry thecarriage wheels I. The bulb guides 8 and 9 are mounted on top of thecarriage bodies 4 and 5, respectively.

The carriage body 3 has the shaft guide It! mounted on the top thereof.As is more clearly brought out in Figure 3, it is throughthe bearings IIthat the shaft guide III with the carriage body 8 and the entirecarriage assembly moves backward and forward to cause the bulb restingon the carriage guides 4 and 5 to envelop the rotating brush l5. Thisbrush l5 which cleans the bulbs extends from the brush coupling I4 whichprojects from the forward extremity of the shaft l3 enclosed within theshaft tube I2.

The rearward extension of the shaft tube I2 ex- 5 tends back through theshaft tube supports IE to the coupling ll. It is here that the shafttube l2 ends and the shaft I3 is joined to the solid shaft I 8 which isdriven through the pulley l9 and the belt 28 mounted-on the supports 2|.

Air may be introduced through the air line 22 in the shaft tube l2.

As shown in Figure 2, the air escape bushing 23 is located on the end ofthe driven shaft 13 and is enclosed by the shaft tube l2 except that atits forward end it permits the passage therethrough of air comingthrough the shaft tube l2 from air line 22 as shown in Figure 1. Thebrush coupling I4 extends from the bushing 23 and has attached at theforward end thereof the brush l5 shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1 also shows the connecting rod 24 running between the carriagebody 3 on which the shaft guide III is mounted and the carriage body 4on which the bulb guide 8 is mounted. Attached to the rear of thecarriage body 3 is the rear bumper 25, shown in Figure 3, which, whenthe whole carriage assembly is moved in a through the connecting rod 24as a result of the rear bumper 25 striking the rear bumper spring 26will be absorbed through the two springs 28 held on the rod in front andone in the rear of the carriage body 40 4. In Figure 1, the forwardmovement of the carriage assembly is limited by the stop 30. Any shockresulting from the carriage assembly striking the stop 30 will beabsorbed. by the spring 3| on the stud 32 freely fitted through thecarriage body 5.

Although, as seen in Figure 3, I have shown but two carriage bodies 4and 5 with the bulb more than two may be used depending on the length ofthe bulb to be cleaned. It is apparent that if long bulbs were to becleaned, either a greater spacing between carriage bodies or morecarriage bodies along with an adjusted location M of the shaft guidewould be necessary. My ap Paratus is so constructed that suchadjustments rearward direction, will strike against the rear 24 throughthe collars 29, one 7 guides 8 and 9, respectively, mounted thereon,-

When'a bulb is to be cleaned, it is placed in the saddle oi the bulbguides l and 8. A slight downward and rearward pressure is placed on thebulb thus causing the bulb carriage assembly to move along the tracks Iand bring the bulb towards the brush II. The bulb carriage assembly ismoved along the tracks- I far enough to cause the bulb to be cleaned itsentire length by the rotating brush it. The air coming from the air line12 through the shaft tube l2 and out the air escape bushing 28 will, inconjunction with the rotating brush, remove all dust and otherimpurities from the inner walls of the bulb. This dust may be collectedby some suitable means.

Figure 4 shows a means by which such materials as are removed from thewalls of the bulb may be collected. It is extremely desirable to be ableto salvage the luminescent powder from a detective lamp. Thus'ii theapparatus described above is connectedto a vacuum and some suitablecontainer this result may be achieved. Figure 4 shows'the bulb 33 withthe luminescent powder 23 on the inner walls thereof being cleaned bythe rotating brush It. When the bulb to be cleaned is placed on the bulbcarriage, one end thereof may be connected to a vacuum line such as 35,as shown in Figure 4. By connecting this line to a vacuum pump and somesuitable trap the luminescent coating may be readily and adequatelysalvaged.

What I claim is:

Apparatus for cleaning elongated tubular glass bulbs comprising: anaxially fixed rotatable shaft; a shaft tube enclosing said shaft; an airinlet at the rearward extremity of said shaft tube; an air escapebushing at the forward extremity of said shaft tube; a rotating brushattached to said air escape bushing; a bulb carriage; and a track alongwhich said bulb carriage may be moved to bring the bulbs into cleaningrelation with said brush.

RALPH B. THOMAS.

